“Give us each day the food we need.” (Luke 11:3, NLT)

The words have been before me, stirring thoughts and causing me to think, for over a week. It is one line from “The Lord’s Prayer” – the prayer Jesus Himself gave us as a model.

In praying this way, Jesus teaches us to petition the Father for our daily needs – or that which is necessary.

In order to prepare for a recent medical test, fasting from foods was necessary for a period of time. It occurred to me, at some point, I did not even “feel” hungry. The stretch of days passed quickly and did not require much effort on my part to abstain.

Perhaps the food we need differs greatly from the food we want.

The Israelites were led out of Egypt from where they had been held in slavery. Now free, they found themselves traveling in the wilderness to the land God had promised to them.

It did not take long for them to begin complaining and wanting the food they had in Egypt. They forgot the oppression they had endured, focusing instead on the “pots filled with meat and the bread they ate”.

God responded to their grumbling by providing the food needed each day. Each morning when they arose, they found the ground covered in a flaky substance called manna. They were to gather up as much as was needed for their own household, for the amount would be ample. If they gathered too much, it could not be stored as it would become filled with maggots.

The story is familiar and yet this morning in reading the story again in Exodus 16, I discovered something new:

“After this the people gathered the food morning by morning, each family according to its need. And as the sun became hot, the flakes they had not picked up melted and disappeared.” (Exodus 16:21, NLT)

The manna on the ground melted and disappeared, yet what had been gathered in their bowls – lasted all day.

“I am the living bread that came down from heaven.”
– Jesus, in John 6:47-51

Perhaps this is the very reason we are to meet with Him on the pages of God’s Word each morning. His Word will sustain us, feeding and nourishing our souls for the demands of the day.

We can gather much or little as time permits, for no matter the amount, it will be sufficient for the day. It will be exactly what we need for whatever comes our way.

“God had worked out a simple, effective system for his people: new manna was available for gathering every morning, and old manna was gotten rid of by the heat of the sun. Lazy people were thus disciplined into getting up early enough to get their food for the day, and competitive types were unable to gain any advantage over others by gathering and keeping disproportionate amounts.”

(New American Commentary, Douglas K. Stuart, Vol. 2, page 380)

God will equally bless us all in His Word, no matter the time given.
We need only pray,
“Give us each day the food we need.”